EU Statement at IAEA Board of Governors on NPT Safeguards Agreement with the Islamic Republic of Iran, as delivered on 11 September 2024

Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The candidate countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina[1], the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as San Marino, align themselves with this statement.

The European Union thanks the Director General for his update on the NPT Safeguards Agreement with Iran and commends the DG and the Secretariat for their professional, independent and impartial work in verifying Iran's safeguards obligations.

The EU is gravely concerned that the Agency is still not in a position to provide assurance that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful, due to Iran's persistent lack of cooperation. It is regrettable that, despite four Board resolutions and numerous opportunities, Iran has not provided technically credible explanations that would enable the Agency to confirm the correctness and completeness of Iran's declarations. Instead, Iran made statements that are inconsistent with the Agency's findings.

More than five years have passed since uranium particles of anthropogenic origin were found at Turquzabad and four years since similar particles were also found at Varamin. It is nearly two years since the Board decided in its November 2022 resolution that it was essential and urgent that Iran clarifies all outstanding safeguards issues. This was most recently recalled by the Board in its last resolution in June. These issues relate to undeclared activities and sites involving undeclared nuclear material, which may still exist in Iran today and might not be under Agency safeguards. This is deeply concerning. Iran needs to resolve these issues stemming from its legally binding obligations. Iran must allow verification by the Agency of the non-diversion of nuclear material.

The EU supports the Agency's efforts to obtain progress from Iran on resolving safeguards issues and improving cooperation. It is highly concerning that there has been no progress towards implementing the March 2023 Joint Statement in the past 15 months. We call on Iran to implement the Joint Statement and seriously engage on the basis of the Agency's latest concrete proposals.

Due to Iran's lack of cooperation, the Agency is not in a position to provide assurance that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful. This is all the more worrying in light of statements made by Iranian officials in the previous reporting period about Iran's capacity to assemble a nuclear weapon, which would appear incompatible with Iran's legal obligations under the NPT. The EU recalls that further action by the Board might be necessary. The June resolution clearly sets out the steps to be taken should Iran fail to provide the necessary cooperation with the Agency, including a request for a comprehensive and updated assessment on the possible presence or use of undeclared nuclear material in connection with past and present outstanding issues regarding Iran's nuclear programme.

Its deeply regretful that Iran has decided not to reverse its September 2023 decision to withdraw the designations of several key experienced Agency inspectors. We urge Iran to reverse that decision without further delay, as recently requested by the Board. The Agency has explained that this remains essential to fully allow the Agency to conduct its verification activities in Iran effectively.

We urge Iran to resume the provisional implementation of the Additional Protocol and to bring it into force, to enable the Agency to provide credible assurances on the absence of undeclared nuclear activities. We stress that the implementation of modified Code 3.1 is a legal obligation under the Subsidiary Arrangements to its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement, which cannot be modified or suspended unilaterally.

Regarding the discrepancy linked to Iran's undeclared uranium metal activities, we are concerned by the Agency's assessment that, after final evaluation of the data related to past experiments conducted at JHL, the amount of nuclear material unaccounted for is even greater than previously communicated to Iran. We call on Iran to earnestly clarify this issue. As long as such cases exist and are not fully clarified, there remains reasonable doubt about the nature of Iran's nuclear activities.

To conclude, we are grateful for and fully support the DG's long-standing efforts to remain open to constructive engagement with Iran. We call upon the new Iranian government to work with the Agency swiftly and substantially, towards full compliance with its CSA obligations. It remains essential and urgent that Iran delivers on the actions specified in the November 2022 and June 2024 Board's resolutions, as well as the other Board's resolutions.

With this, the EU looks forward to additional reporting from the Director General on the Agency's assessment of Iran's implementation of its safeguards obligations and requests that this report be made public.

Thank you, Chair.

[1]North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

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